Greenery vs. Greenbacks: To plant or not to plant?

"We want to still try and get some type of parallel planting idea," said city planner Lee Smick. "Certainly, once these trees grow, they're not going to go across into the center of the street, but at least we'll still have some type of unifying configuration."

The city also decided last spring not to continue replacing its 20,000 street trees as they die. "We had quite a big backlog of trees that had to get trimmed and removed. We were never going to catch up," said City Council Member David Pritzlaff. The city budgeted $43,000 last year for tree trimming alone, and branches were getting in the way of garbage trucks. So in new city neighborhoods, "We thought, why create the same problem again?" he said.

Foresters in Minneapolis, which budgets $9.7 million for trees, point to a 2005 study showing that the city's 200,000 boulevard trees reap residents $1.59 in benefits for every dollar spent.

Natural gas and electricity savings from shade, increased property values and cooler neighborhoods have earned the city's venerable tree program a long list of fans.

A cluster of Linden Hills businesses in southwest Minneapolis didn't have street trees until a dozen years ago, when store owners decided that planting them "would be one of the best things we could do to improve the look and feel of that little neighborhood shopping district," said Bob Bayers, owner of an 85-year-old hardware store.

But tripping over a torn-up sidewalk or paying to break up the love affair between a root and a sewer line can go a long way toward silencing the most ardent tree-hugger.

"Occasionally we'll get the call about, 'I don't want to rake leaves,' which we always chuckle at," said Minneapolis forestry director Ralph Sievert.

Then there's the lady who does not want a tree in front of her house, period.

"We've got her on what we call our 'do not plant' list, but we somehow accidentally started planting," he said. "Oh, was she mad."

In Burnsville, some people have planted boulevard trees even though the city discourages it. Some of the same city leaders who are enthusiastic about more boulevard trees have also voiced reluctance to pay for them.

"I'd love to see more trees in the city, but if the residents want to plant a tree, they should be responsible for maintaining it in the boulevard," said City Council Member Dan Gustafson.

But training residents and enforcing tree rules will be tough, especially when homeowners move away, city staff members have pointed out. After all, trimming the chokecherry in your backyard isn't quite the same thing as pruning a giant maple with power lines running overhead and school buses driving below on the street.

If the council moves ahead this summer with plans to permit boulevard trees, "I think it's clear the city is going to have some maintenance role," said deputy city manager Tom Hansen, who remembers the massive municipal cleanup following a 1998 storm that downed 5,000 trees in Burnsville. "It's just a question of how much."

Sarah Lemagie • 952-882-9016